James Lane Allen (1849–1925)

Found this book locally and being from Kentucky it was a super interesting read to me. I couldn't rate it high just because I found certain parts to drag on and the plot was pretty basic. Super cool to find a classical fictional book pertaining to local history though.

For the lushness of the descriptions and the subtle nuances of character; you’d think the going would be plodding. Surprisingly, the reading moves at a comfortable pace.
Very different from anything you’d find today.

this book is a novel of Kentucky,a turn of the century tale, It has all the wonderful characters of a Dickens,the easy read of a Guy De Maupassant tale,and lots of history of a Kentucky no one now living remembers. It has tragedy,loss,joy and hope... Its real life as it was once and will never be again... This books original title was to be A Brood of Eagles and that would better have described the tale. It isn't a christmas story , just a tale of events that happened to happen on a show more christmas long ago show less

Elegantly worded, but winding and hard to follow for a modern reader. Frustrating and wordy in place of clarity.

Don’t forget John Gray’s wrestle with the panther. Very important plot point.